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Monday, February 11, 2008

Monday Morning Musings

The market opened under heavy selling pressure after losses in Asian markets overnight, and news from AIG that weighed on financials.

AIG said it has yet to determine the value of its CDO portfolio, a comment the marekt did not like, due to the fact that it adds uncertainty to the picture. As for Asian markets, they were down fairly heavily following the poor showing of U.S. markets last week.

In the silly move department, Dow Jones said that it will be adding Bank of America (BAC) and Chevron (CVX) to the Dow Jones Industrial Index, and removing Altria (MO) and Honeywell (HON).

I don't understand these moves, and think they add little value to the index. Citi (C) is already in there, so BAC adds nothing. Ditto with Exxon (XOM) being in there. Who needs another behemoth oil company? I would have preferred HON stayed in there. Personally, I think they should just do away with this index. But I know I am alone there.

Yahoo! is rejecting Microsoft's bid of $31, saying that they feel the company is worth $40. I disagree with them, and if that was the case, there would likely be other bidders. They should just accept it.

Oil is higher this morning, above $92.50, which is helping the energy complex. The Yen is also higher, which I don't like to see. It had a big downward reversal day last Thursday, so I was hoping to see some follow-through on the downside. I'll be keeping my eye on this.

And bond yields are lower, with the 10-year yield at 3.60%. The economic calendar is light this week.

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About Me

Jordan Kahn, CFA is the Chief Investment Officer of KAM Advisors, in Beverly Hills, CA.
He is a frequent market commentator for numerous investment publications, and has appeared on CNBC and KNBC-Los Angeles. He is a regular columnist for RealMoney.com and has also been featured in TheStreet.com, Street Insight, Technology Investor, and Barron’s.